Saturday, May 30, 2009

The version of "That Means A Lot" heard on The Beatles Anthology was the Beatles' first "best" attempt and they tried to better it through recording a re-make. Take 20 features guitar riffs in the style of "Another Girl" and take 24 features an entirely different riff, still in keeping with the idea that the song could become a mid-tempo rocker with a 4/4 beat. After this studio session, the Beatles gave up on the song, offering it instead to their friend P.J. Proby.

Billy Fury (born Ronald William Wycherley, 17 April 1940 - 28 January 1983), was an internationally successful British pop singer from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, and remained an active songwriter until the 1980s. Rheumatic fever, which damaged his heart, contributed to his death.

Early years

Born at Smithdown Hospital (later Sefton General Hospital, now demolished), Smithdown Road, Liverpool, Ronnie Wycherley first attended a gig in Birkenhead run by impresario Larry Parnes, in the hope of interesting established artiste Marty Wilde in some of the songs he had written. Instead, in an episode that has become pop music legend, Parnes pushed young Wycherley up on stage right away. He was such an immediate success that Parnes signed him, added him to the tour, and renamed him "Billy Fury."

He released his first hit for Decca, "Maybe Tomorrow," in 1959. By March 1960, he hit UK Number 9 with his own composition "Colette," followed by "That's Love" and his first album The Sound of Fury (1960), which featured a young Joe Brown on lead guitar, with backup vocals by The Four Jays.

After further hits and sacking his band The Blue Flames—which included keyboardist Georgie Fame—auditions were held for a new group and held by Parnes in Liverpool. Among those who failed were the pre-fame Beatles, who for the first time called themselves The Silver Beetles. They were offered the job for £20 a week on condition that they sacked bass guitar player Stuart Sutcliffe. John Lennon refused and the band left after Lennon had secured Fury's autograph. The Beatles were salvaged, however, by being sent on a tour of Scotland with Johnny Gentle and Duffy Power, who were a couple more of Parnes' acts.

UK chart and film success

Fury concentrated less on Rock 'n' Roll and more on mainstream ballads, such as "Halfway to Paradise" and "Jealousy" (both 1961, each of which reached number 2 in the British Singles Chart). This was Decca's decision to mould Fury into a teen idol after his last self-penned song, "My Christmas Prayer," had failed to chart. 1962 and 1963 were Billy Fury's best years chart-wise. However, he was not a typical teen idol; there was too much sexuality in his performances and his renditions were never lightweight in the mold of some singers like Craig Douglas or Jimmy Justice. Fury's fans and contemporaries in music knew he was a rocker and the real thing musically.

In 1962 Fury appeared in his first film Play It Cool, modeled on the Elvis movies. It featured Helen Shapiro, Danny Rivers, Shane Fenton (aka Alvin Stardust) and Bobby Vee who appeared with the Vernons Girls. The hit single from the film was "Once Upon a Dream." In the film Fury did not get the girl but stayed with his friends. There are notable performances by many well-known British actors and performers such as Richard Wattis, Lionel Blair and Dennis Price. The music highlight of the film is Fury's singing of the title track.

Fury's We Want Billy (released 1963, with The Tornados) was one of the first live albums in British rock history and featured renditions of his major hits and covers of several classic R&B songs such as "Unchain My Heart" by Ray Charles. "Turn Your Lamp Down Low" (recorded in 1965 with backing band The Gamblers) was one of the earliest examples of a British act recording a track in the reggae style (with the emphasis on the second and fourth beats of each bar).

In 1965 he appeared in the film I've Gotta Horse, which featured the band The Bachelors. Appearing in minor roles were Michael Medwin, and Jon Pertwee of Doctor Who fame. The album from the film is available in stereo.

Having had more UK hits, such as "It's Only Make Believe" and "I Will" (written by Dick Glasser, not to be confused with the Paul McCartney song), both in 1964, and "In Thoughts of You" in 1965, Fury began a lengthy absence from the charts in 1967, and underwent surgery for heart problems caused by rheumatic fever which led to his abandoning touring. Despite spending many weeks on the charts, Billy Fury never achieved a number one single, but he remained popular even after his hits stopped. Fury's song "I Will" became a US hit for Dean Martin in 1965 and for Ruby Winters in 1977.

Later years and death

In 1973, Fury came out of retirement to play rock 'n' roller "Stormy Tempest" in the film That'll Be The Day. The film, starring David Essex and Ringo Starr, was roughly based on the early days of The Beatles. Ringo Starr was from the same Dingle area of Liverpool as Fury and had originally played drums for Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, who the Stormy Tempest group were said to be modeled on.

Billy Fury's health deteriorated and he underwent heart surgery notably in 1976 and later. In 1980 he was declared bankrupt and it is possible this forced him out of retirement against medical advice.

In 1981 and 1982, Fury was signed to Polydor Records by A&R man Frank Neilson and recorded a comeback album, The One And Only (released posthumously) with Shakin' Stevens' producer Stuart Colman and several singles. Because of his health, Fury did little touring to promote the new album. His last public appearance was at the Sunnyside, Northampton, in December 1982. He recorded a live performance for the television show Unforgettable featuring six of his old hits. At the request of his mother, only four were transmitted, however, as the two others had such great emotional attachment for her.

Fury lived with Lee Middleton from 1959 to 1967, married Judith Hall in May 1969 and lived with the property heiress Lisa Rosen from 1971 until his death on 28 January 1983 at Paddington, West London.

The song "A Wondrous Place," a great favorite of Fury's (so much so that he recorded it at least four times during his career) later received much airplay on British television when it was used as the theme for a Toyota Yaris car advertisement in 1999 and 2000.

Billy Fury was a keen amateur birdwatcher.

He is buried at the Paddington District Cemetery, Milespit Hill, Mill Hill, London NW7. His grave is always well maintained, with fresh flowers and messages from fans.

Good day sunshineI need to laugh, and when the sun is outI've got something I can laugh aboutI feel good in a special wayI'm in love and it's a sunny day

CHORUSGood day sunshine

We take a walk, the sun is shining downBurns my feet as they touch the ground.

Good day sunshine (breaks etc.)

Then we lie beneath a shady treeI love her, and she's loving me

She feels good, she knows she's looking fineI'm so proud to know that she is mine

Good day sunshine (FORTE)

length 2:10

Second Manuscript (1966)

Intro (Breaks Etc.) then Good day sunshine(1) I need to laugh, and when the sun is outI've got something I can laugh about

(2) I feel good in a special wayI'm in love and it's a sunny day

CHORUS Good day sunshine

(3) We take a walk, the sun is shining downBurns my feet as they touch the ground- BREAK - B chord.Verse in B. Solo (guitar)

Good day sunshine (Breaks etc..)

(4) Then we lie beneath a shady tree,I love her, and she's loving me

She feels good, she's [sic] knows she's looking fine.I'm so proud to know that she is mine.

Good day sunshine. (Forte fortas fortissimos)

repeat - end

Length 2.10

As Released by the Beatles (1966)

Good day sunshine, good day sunshine, good day sunshine

I need to laugh and when the sun is outI've got something I can laugh about.I feel good in a special wayI'm in love and it's a sunny day.

Good day sunshine, good day sunshine, good day sunshine.

We take a walk, the sun is shining downBurns my feet as they touch the ground.

Good day sunshine, good day sunshine, good day sunshine.

Then we lie beneath a shady treeI love her and she's loving me.She feels good (she feels good), she knows she's looking fineI'm so proud to know that she is mine.

Good day sunshine, good day sunshine, good day sunshine.Good day sunshine, good day sunshine, good day sunshine.Good day sunshine (good day sunshine) (good day sunshine)(Good day sunshine) (good day...

All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now).

All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together now (all together now)All together nowAll together now! (wuh, yeah, wahoo!)

Gerry Marsden (born Gerard Marsden on 24 September 1942 in Dingle, Liverpool, England) is an English musician and television personality, best known for being leader of the British band Gerry & The Pacemakers.

Marsden's interest in music began at an early age. He remembers standing on top of an air raid shelter singing "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" and getting a great reception from onlookers. He said to himself then, "This is what I want to do."

Gerry & The Pacemakers were the second group signed by Brian Epstein and remained among his favorite artists. Their first single was "How Do You Do It," recommended by George Martin after it was initially given to The Beatles. This was the first number one hit for the Pacemakers. It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios and was released on EMI's Columbia label. Marsden said the recording took four or five takes. The band's second number one was "I Like It," followed by "You'll Never Walk Alone." Other singles included "It's Gonna Be Alright" (their "heaviest" song), "I'm the One," "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying," and "Ferry Cross the Mersey."

After leaving the Pacemakers — his brother Fred Marsden, Les Maguire and Les Chadwick—Gerry Marsden maintained a low-key career on television, and starred in the West End musical Charlie Girl alongside Derek Nimmo and Anna Neagle.

He is most remembered for the song "I Like It" and his rendition of "You'll Never Walk Alone," which has been adopted as an anthem of several football clubs, the most notable being Liverpool, the club that Marsden supports. He sang the song at Wembley Stadium when Everton faced Liverpool at the 1989 F.A. Cup final shortly after the Hillsborough disaster.

The Pacemakers, albeit with different musicians, still tour today and are a popular oldies draw on the circuit.

Marsden returned to No. 1 in the charts twice during the 1980s with re-recordings of two of his old hits, with all profits going to charity. In 1985 after the Bradford Football Club stadium tragedy in which 56 were killed, he formed a group called "The Crowd," which included other musicians, singers, and radio disc jockeys, to produce a new version of "You'll Never Walk Alone." After the Hillsborough football ground tragedy of 1989 which left 96 dead, he joined forces with Paul McCartney, The Christians, Holly Johnson, and his production trio Stock, Aitken & Waterman on a new version of "Ferry Cross the Mersey."

Marsden's favorite recordings are "Ferry Cross the Mersey," "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying" and "You'll Never Walk Alone."

In 1993, Gerry Marsden published his autobiography, I'll Never Walk Alone, co-written with former Melody Maker editor Ray Coleman.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Here are some never-before-seen clips from the making of John Lennon's 1974 promo films.

From the YouTube description:

Here is something rare indeed. John directed this footage for possible use in one of his promo videos. Most likely "Whatever Gets You Though the Night" but some similar footage was used for "#9 Dream" and aired in the UK. John spent the day around New York filming scenes in Central Park and various other locations. Just John and one camera man. After being in front of the camera for several hours, John wanted to capture some footage of average folks, and filmed these scenes Candid Camera style; most did not know they were being filmed. This is part of several 16mm film reels re-discovered in 2001.

Tony Barrow (born in Crosby, Merseyside, England, 1936) is a Press officer who worked with The Beatles between 1962 and 1968. He coined the phrase "The Fab Four," first using it in an early press release.

Liverpool-born Tony Barrow was very much a part of The Beatles' generation and eventually became one of the longest-serving members of their immediate entourage.

While in the late Fifties when teenagers John Lennon and Paul McCartney were putting together their earliest group in one part of the city, Tony Barrow was presenting jazz bands and skiffle/folk groups at local dance halls and clubs across town in the north Merseyside suburb of Crosby. Educated locally at Merchant Taylors School he then studied languages at Durham University. In 1954, when he was still a 17-year-old sixth form schoolboy, he landed his first regular freelance writing job as pop/rock record reviewer for the Liverpool Echo, the largest-selling provincial evening newspaper in the UK.

At the beginning of the Sixties, while The Beatles paid their dues in the Hamburg clubs, Barrow moved from Crosby to London to work for the Decca Record Company where he wrote the liner notes that appeared on the back of LP album covers. From his new London base he continued to contribute his weekly record column to the Liverpool Echo and when Liverpool record retailer Brian Epstein signed The Beatles to a management deal at the end of 1961 he contacted Barrow for professional advice. This led to an informal arrangement whereby Barrow became The Beatles' part-time press/publicity consultant which involved promoting the launch of the new EMI band from behind a desk at rival London record company Decca. His earliest task for Epstein was to co-ordinate a media publicity campaign to surround the release of the group's first UK single, "Love Me Do," on EMI's Parlophone label in October 1962. He was paid a one-off freelance fee of around 50 US dollars to compile The Beatles' initial press kit.

When Epstein promised to double his Decca salary, Barrow left the record company to join Epstein's new artists' management company, NEMS Enterprises, on a full-time basis in May 1963. Barrow opened Epstein's first London office and as head of the Press and Public Relations Division, began to promote the careers of not only The Fab Four but also Epstein's other artists from Cilla Black to Gerry & The Pacemakers, from Billy J Kramer With The Dakotas to The Fourmost. In view of his previous employment as a liner-note writer with Decca, it was taken for granted that he would do the same job for The Beatles and Epstein's other acts.

It was Barrow's idea to give out Beatles Christmas greetings to their fan club members. Barrow thought this goodwill gesture might limit the damage done to the group's reputation by delays in replying to an ever-increasing volume of fan mail. The Beatles were three weeks behind in answering membership applications. At the time he said facetiously that he thought of how the Queen always sent out yuletide greetings to her subject every year on UK radio and TV and he decided that The Beatles should "follow her fine example but in their own way." All members of the group's official fan club would receive an exclusive flexi-disc carrying messages from John, Paul, George and Ringo. What started as a one-off damage limitation job grew into an eagerly anticipated annual event.

In 1965 and 1966 Tony Barrow traveled around the globe with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr on The Beatles' biggest, most lucrative and most dangerous international concert tours, conducting their massive daily press conferences wherever they were on the road, accompanying them on their very private "summit of the giants" meeting with Elvis Presley at his home in Bel Air, California, and setting up The Fab Four's media interviews and photo shoots when they returned home. One of Barrow's final tasks as The Beatles' Press Officer was to compile and edit the strip-cartoon story booklet which was part of the "Magical Mystery Tour" recording package at the end of 1967.

When The Beatles set up their own self-management operation, Apple Corps, in 1968, the year after Brian Epstein's death, Barrow's job as The Fab Four's publicist came to its natural end. He left NEMS Enterprises to set up his own independent show business PR consultancy, Tony Barrow international. Headquartered in London's Mayfair district, TBI and its sister company, Tony Barrow Management, represented many of Britain's top entertainers and recording stars in the Seventies (including The Kinks, The Bay City Rollers, The New Seekers, Bob Monkhouse) and an equally awesome list of bill-topping American artists (including David Cassidy, Gladys Knight, David Soul, The Monkees, Tony Bennett, The Jackson Five, Andy Williams, Neil Sedaka) for their European tours.

In 1980, partly because he disliked the unsavory images portrayed by the era's new wave of punk bands, Tony Barrow quit the PR business to return to freelance journalism, writing various books including a highly successful career guide,Inside The Music Business (co-authored with Julian Newby) and John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me, his memoirs of the Sixties.

By 2007, he had become the last surviving professional writer from The Fab Four's original inner circle of business aides and associates and was continuing to take on selected writing and broadcasting assignments including (inevitably) some directly linked to his uniquely memorable years with The Beatles.

In this series, In The Life Of...The Beatles presents the top 10 unreleased recordings of the Beatles.

By some mysterious stroke of good luck, Bob Molyneux happened to record two songs of the Quarry Men's Woolton Fete gig on July 6, 1957 -- the day that John Lennon met Paul McCartney. The tape was put up for auction at Sotheby's in 1994. Molyneux said of the recordings, "They still give me goose pimples after 37 years." It eventually sold for £78,500 to EMI. Though the recordings are of poor quality, they would still be interesting to hear in their entirety. Here are fragments of the two songs recorded that day: Lonnie Donegan's "Puttin' On The Style" and Elvis Presley's "Baby, Let's Play House."

That evening they appeared on NBC's The Tonight Show where they were interviewed by Joe Garagiola as Johnny Carson was away. As well as discussing their plans for Apple, John used the opportunity to denounce the Maharishi.

Q: Some of the history of this is that, the Beatles come into the recording studio in June of 1962 with their first drummer, Pete Best, and record a demo of the song "Love Me Do." George Martin and I guess Ron Richards hear it and think Well, this is, you know, not very good, but maybe we can do something with this. We'll bring in a session drummer. In the meantime the Beatles and Brian Epstein go out, get rid of Pete Best and bring in Ringo Starr. So they bring Ringo Starr into the studio in early September and do a version of "Love Me Do." They're still not happy, so they call out to Mr. Dependable, Andy White, to come in and do this. If you're trying to listen to the difference, you hear different versions of "Love Me Do." The version with Ringo is out there, in fact it was the single in the UK. But on the LP and over here it was Andy's version. You can always tell the version with Andy because Ringo is playing tambourine on there. But something I'd never listened for and Andy told me last night, he said, "I didn't play any hi-hat on it."

WHITE: That's true. I don't know why that was that we didn't use a hi-hat. Maybe because they knew they were going to put Ringo on tambourine. Give him space to play.

Q: But you also said that one of the things you were doing was linking up what you were doing with the bass drum to what Paul was doing on the bass.

WHITE: Yeah, yeah.

Q: And indeed that's one of the things that distinguishes that version of "Love Me Do" from the other two.

WHITE: Absolutely.

Q: Do you remember anything of the session?

WHITE: Oh yeah.

Q: What do you remember?

WHITE: I remember Ringo coming in and seeing me setting up the drums, you know. The look on his face would've killed. And he's never forgotten it, even to this day.

Q: Have you talked to him since then?

WHITE: I never talked to him at all, ever. I was involved with John and Paul that whole session because they had done the music and they'd use routines of course, so I had to learn the routines and the time was all taken up with that. I didn't speak to George or Ringo not because I didn't want to, but I was just too busy. And we also did a take of "Please Please Me," which went on the first album, my version.

Q: Your version. Oh really?

WHITE: Yeah. And I like that one because that was a good arrangement, a lot of good breaks and things in it. Very good. And I know exactly that it...obviously I can tell the sound of my drums, you know, anywhere.

Q: You were playing Ludwigs and Ringo still had his old Premiers I think at that point.

WHITE: Oh yeah. A bunch of old rubbish he had. The drums are a dead give-away. Somebody at EMI said -- well, they didn't say it to me -- but they said, "Oh no, Ringo did that, that 'Please Please Me,' that wasn't them." But the sound of the drums...

Andy White (born 1930, Glasgow, Scotland) is a drummer, best known for playing drums on The Beatles first single, "Love Me Do." White was on the 7" single version released in the United States. He also played drums on the "Love Me Do" B-side, "P.S. I Love You."

White was a studio drummer in the 1950s and 1960s in London, recording with artists such as Billy Fury, Marlene Dietrich, Herman's Hermits, Bert Weedon and Tom Jones. He married the British Decca artist, Lynn Cornell, who later became a member of The Pearls. White is currently married to Thea White, who supplied the voice of 'Muriel' on the Cartoon Network show, Courage the Cowardly Dog.

White used to live in Thames Ditton, and currently lives in New Jersey, teaching beginner and intermediate drum lessons. White is an accomplished Pipe Band Highland drummer and is an active and popular drumming judge for the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association (EUSPBA). At one point, he was a drum instructor for the New York City Department of Corrections Emerald Pipe Band. White has played at concerts for Rod Stewart.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cupThey slither wildly as they slip away across the universePools of sorrow, waves of joyAre drifting through my opened mindPossessing and caressing me.

Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyesThey call me on and on across the universe.Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter-boxThey tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe.

Charles "Chas" Newby (born 18 June 1941, in Liverpool) was temporarily the bassist for The Beatles in December 1960, following the departure of Stuart Sutcliffe. When The Beatles returned from Germany for the first time, they were short a bass guitarist. Pete Best suggested Chas Newby. Chas had been with The Blackjacks (Pete Best's group), and was now attending college, but was on vacation and so agreed to play with The Beatles. He appeared with them for three engagements in December 1960. John Lennon asked him to go to Germany, for the Beatles' second trip, but he chose to return to college.

Chas later continued his studies and became a teacher of Mathematics at Droitwich High School in Worcestershire.